How To Fix a Mistake In Your Quilt Piecing

As hard as we might try, mistakes happen! That’s the nature of quilting. Thankfully, Leah Day not only shows you how to quilt correctly (thanks to her online Craftsy class, Free Motion Quilting a Sampler!), but in this free video tip, she also teaches you how to fix a hole in your piecing if you accidentally quilted, well, not-so-correctly. Check it out below, then be sure to register for her fantastic class and receive a 25% discount!

I was working through this block. This is block number 20 in my class, Free Motion Quilting a Sampler. I was stitching it in the ditch, and I noticed there’s a hole right here. So I’m going to continue stitching in the ditch down this area. But I’m going to kind of overlap and get into the sashing area to fix this mistake and secure the piecing in the quilting.

So here we go.

I’m already in the ditch and stitching this line, and I’m going to kind of use my fingers and maybe even the point of my seam ripper to really tuck this pieced area underneath that folded sashing edge. And I might even tuck it in just a little further than necessary just to make sure it’s nice and secure.

I’m going to hold that really nice and tight with my hand, my finger and stitch down. I’m going to remain in the ditch until right up to that area, and then I’m going to hop into the sashing area to make sure it’s nice and secured.

Here we go. I’m going to stitch down. About right here, I’m just going to kind of very subtly get into that sashing area. And I’m essentially kind of top-stitching that fold down so it’s nice and secure. At that point, I’m pretty much through fixing that hole. So I’m going to try to hop back down into the ditch and fix that area.

Now, of course, this is a noticeable fix to this problem. You’re going to see it. But which would you rather have: a kind of noticeable fix, or a hole in your quilt? Personally, I’d rather have the noticeable fix. And honestly, once you fill the area, it’s not going to be really that noticeable.

6 Comments

Being a new quilter I found one of these holes in one of my BOM. Thanks! Now it’s fixed securely and no one will ever know but me where it is! Loved and appreciated you and Amy introducing me to quilting!

I’m taking Leah’s free motion quilting class, and I really appreciate her very practical, real-world advice (it’s okay if your quilt isn’t perfect; no one will notice). I was interested in quilting, but postponed taking it up after hearing a horror story about a friend’s friend being asked to not return to a beginning quilting class because the instructor had decided she didn’t have sufficient quilting abilities. Amy’s 2012 block of the month class was also great at building up my confidence, and it appears that Laura’s 2012 BOM class will build even more skills. This is a great platform for those of us who work and can’t easily schedule a “live” quilting class.

Hi Leah, I have been following along in your sampler class,just going to start my 4th square have throughly enjoyed your way of teaching so relaxing and leaves me with wanting to keep trying. Your class is the 3rd one I have taken online and have to say again the best one for me
Linda
from Calgary,Alberta

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